Emotion Activity

We’re always looking for opportunities to teach our kids about emotions- why they’re important, what they look like, how they feel, and what might cause them. Here’s one activity I’ve tried with a couple groups and the kids seem to really enjoy it:

One child puts a headband on with a picture of an emotion or feeling on it (without seeing what it is). The other children in the group then act out that feeling using facial expression, body posture, or other gestures until the child is able to guess the correct emotion. I’ve used it as a nonverbal game but it could also be used to target expressive language by having the kids describe the feeling in rather than act it out.

It’s pretty easy to construct; I made a headband out of construction paper and made several hearts (I use it as a Valentines Day activity) with different faces drawn on them. I stapled a piece of clear plastic as a pocket for the pictures to go into but Velcro would probably work just as well. If you didn’t want to draw the faces you could always use other emotion cards or pictures. The well known “How are you Feeling Today?” poster by Jim Borgman is one idea for pictures you could use; all you’d have to do is cut out the different faces.

I’ll try to get some pictures up so you have a better idea of what it looks like. Have fun!